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W. Scott Haywood
CSM William Scott Haywood II is a debonair, real estate mogul, prospective oil tycoon, and veteran of the First Korean Expedition and the Spanish-American War. Early Life Haywood was born to Moses and Mary Haywood, on the 9th of December, 1853. His father, Moses, was a Freedman who had moved to Kansas from West Virginia in search of a new life, and his mother was the daughter of a German immigrant and a Lakota woman. He was named for his uncle, Moses's little brother, who died while escaping to the north two years prior. Haywood attended school in Topeka and excelled in his learning, despite people trying to interrupt him, a colored boy, getting an education. At the age of 11, Haywood attempted to bluff his way into the United States Army to fight against the south but was turned away because of his young age. When he was 18, Haywood joined the United States Army Reserves. Enlistment and Service In 1871, Haywood signed up for the first Expedition to Korea. Led by Admiral John Rogers, Haywood was one of several Army Rangers recruits involved. Though initially dismayed that the group lost three men, Haywood would later say that the 100 to 1 ratio of Korean vs. American deaths was disgraceful, and that he regretted being involved. In 1893, Haywood would see action again as Commanding Sargent Major of the Second United States Volunteer Cavalry, one of three brigades of volunteer infantry dispatched to Cuba during the Spanish-American War. During this time, Haywood would briefly serve alongside future vice president Theodore Roosevelt. Haywood retired from the military in 1894, following a gunshot wound to the head during which he lost vision in his right eye. Business and Trading After returning from Korea in 1872, Haywood started and incorporated the Haywood Trading Company. Starting as a small shop in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, the trading company quickly opened up additional locations in Shreveport, New Orleans, and Galveston. By 1890, Haywood was operating his trading posts, which also acted as general stores, in five states. With the money from his trading posts, Haywood purchased a parcel of land just west of New Orleans and began construction on a fabricated town. Opening in 1894, Westminster Quarter was one of the first suburban mass land developments in the state of Louisiana. With homes ranging from just $500 to nearly $10,000, a post office, a church, a volunteer fire department, and a school, Westminster Quarter was a raging success and made Haywood quite a bit of money. He would go on to build similar towns around the nation, including in Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, Utah, and California. Following the 1900 Galveston Hurricane, Haywood was contracted by Sarah Barton of the Red Cross to build a temporary city of homes in Houston, Texas, for those displaced by the hurricane. While in Galveston and Houston working on this project in July of 1901, Haywood received news by telegram that oil had been discovered in a marsh he owned in the Louisiana swamps, which he had sold a portion of to a known member of the Dixie Mafia. Due to the ensuing land dispute, Haywood was forced to hire protection and return to Louisiana.